Cowboys Break: RB Change?

twenty twenty two, season eighteen, episode number sixty. Welcome to the latest edition of The Break Life nest WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star. We are presented by Middle Lte, the only beer of the Dallas Cowboys. Today we are talking Chicago defense versus the Dallas offense. Before we do that, though, we got a couple of topics we need to hit. We're gonna start, as we normally do, on some injury updates. We got a pretty interesting list of guys who have

missed practice. Let's get some updates. Let's start with Ezekiel Elliott. Where are we what are we hearing about him? And what he's going to be doing today? Brian, Uh, nothing today, and he's dealing with a hyper extended knee brain, Thank you, is what he's dealing with. Hyper extended nice brain. Yeah, that's what he's dealing with right now. So a lot of other reports obviously, but yeah, that's the that's that's

a good hyper extended knice brain. And I was told that everybody else is full of this, so we're gonna stick with the hyper extended. So it would be good if you stick with the hyper extended knee brain. Yeah. When you see the injury that you know, and I'm sure it all stems from the one where he was on the sideline, he cuts back and he like, that's what you would think it would be. Honestly, you would think it'd be a hyper extended I thought it was

a thigh bruise. Initially, I didn't think it was me. I thought it was thigh bruise when it first when I saw it, and then the more I you know, we figure out how to ask people around here. Yeah, and it was still pre jumpy. I mean, he was still jumping around on people after that. So yeah, so zeke zeke. But the thing about when he said yesterday we talked about this, when he said, I don't know if I'll be playing. We'll see it's only Wednesday, but it just didn't look like he would be playing. And

I get the sense. You get the sense, probably the same that UM and the public relations department gets the sense because they brought Tony Pollard out to do an interview which they had never do right right after Zeke. I just get the sense that Zeke won't be playing this week, and I think that by week has something to do with it. Right afterwards, I think so the I don't know is something that you wouldn't listen here.

No one is gonna go out there and be like, I don't know, I don't know if I will or not. They're usually like, yeah, I'll be there or that's the plan. The plan is for me to play, So that everything's kind of hinting for him to possibly not playing. Obviously having the bye week coming up probably huge to give him kind of back to back weeks. Yeah, I agree. I think that you know this, and you know he didn't make him available though. I mean, that's that's not

like they just said you're not playing your out. I mean I don't think anyone knows. Yeah, UM, but just just people you talk to and whoever's telling you hyper extended and probably saying he's not playing. I just I have a feeling he wants the I got. I asked this question yesterday late in the day. I said, you know, what's your status of twenty one? And you know, a couple of different people were saying to me, They're like, listen, he didn't practice today. Let's see what happens on Thursday.

So he's not practicing again on Thursday. So I would say that's a pretty good indication, you know, But that's with him with Zeke. You know, you talk about Zeke going out there and talking to the media yesterday, He's probably that's what he's used to going to do, true, you know, and it's like, Okay, this is my responsibility. I walk out, I talk and they're probably, well, bro, you don't have to. We've got Tony can go out

and talk. Well, no, it's my responsibility. I'll go do it. So, you know, he's he's doing everything like he's getting ready to play a football game. He's just not gonna be practicing. And I think with all the you know, we'll know today later today. I think by the end of the day it'll be like this guy can't you know, let's let's be smart about it. But we'll go back to last year. You know, I kept getting I kept asking that question about is he okay? Is he okay? Is

he you knowing it? He's fine, he's fine. He's fining at the end of the year while he was playing with this and then you go, okay, so you know that's he's a different cat. I think they have a hard time telling him you can't play, you know, and he and he doesn't want to hear it from you. He doesn't want to hear it that, you know. And then now you have to ask yourself the question is is he hurting the team by doing it? You know? And I mean, and I mean it's respectfully, I don't mean.

I mean, you know, is if he's just playing it, you know, sixty percent or less, does that helping your your team? You know? And he plays hard, he really really does. I just want to see him get healed up. And because he's off to a great start right now. Yeah,

he really is. Everything you just said, Brian is the reason why I'm I'm pessimistic about him playing, which is like he usually, like you said, it's not one it's not a situation where they're typically like Zeke, we're gonna have to sit you down, Like Zeke's like I'm playing,

I'm hurt, I'm playing. Yeah. And and the fact that he said yesterday when he first said and I don't really know, we'll see that, to me was like, WHOA, Okay, then this is this is maybe a little more of a situation where maybe he can't go than in typical situations where it's like I'm hurt, but I'm playing, you know where you know, That's what I think I would

expect to hear from him in most situations. You know, I was getting pretty annoyed yesterday because we so we put out a story and it was about Tony Pohler when he talked to the media and all that, and He'm basically saying, you know, he's he's ready to go whatever he needs to, He's ready. But then I was looking at the just kind of reading comments from the fans and things like that and people just being like, good, this is why we've been asking for like take out Zeke,

sit him out or whatever. I'm like, what are you talking about. I'm dying to see. I'm not saying the running game is gonna go down the drain if Zeke is out. But I'm dying to see what exactly this looks like, to see if, like, is this gonna please you? Are you gonna be okay with like Tony Pollard taking all the reps? I mean he wouldn't he wouldn't take all of them. We would see who would be behind

him and all that. But it's just very, very annoying to think that you're better off without having Zeke playing as well. Well. I actually went back and looked at the last time Zeke missed a game and they had to roam with Tony Pollard. It was twenty twenty. They were playing in San Francisco, forty nine ers I think it was Week fourteen. Pollard went twelve carries for sixty nine yards two touchdowns. He had a five point seven five average. Here was the interesting part. He had six

catches for sixty three yards. Yeah. The way I look at this is if they have to play a game without Zeke number one, obviously Malik Davis probably be the guy that's going to get a lot of those carries. But in addition to that, your running game kind of extends and it's not the same kind of running game anymore. Now you may actually as opposed to some of those runs that you would run with Zeke. Maybe now you're throwing a little flare out to to Pollard. Hey, Brian,

you talked about this couple weeks ago. I remember what team we were talking about, but how they use their their their short passing game to their running backs as kind of an extension of their running game, and even the Cooper Cup they use that. It's kind of an extension of their running game. It's not a running play, but it's the same kind of short, quick passes that can kind of get the ball out and let the

guy make a play from there. I think that's more of probably what you're going to see instead of thinking that Pollo it's going to be a twenty five carry twenty carry guy. I don't think that's necessarily going to be in the cards for what the Cowboys thinks the best way to win. Yeah, I think that, you know, what's the thing you have to think about next. And by the way, when you look at comments, it does

nothing but living the mental health. Uh, you know, you don't know if people are troll in there or not. But anyway, Nick made a point yesterday about the running game. When it comes to the short yardage running game. You know, when it comes to Zeke is one of these guys that's really good at finishing those runs. In the third and one runs. I know last week it was a little bit of you know, they were trying to do some things a little bit differently and they weren't able

to convert like they had. This is now when the game plan, if it is polar you have to think of something different. You think like, okay, how are we going to manufacture if we get in third and one, third and two, how are we going to have to manufacture the ability to run the ball. And so that's that's going to be the trick because you can hand the ball to Zeke and it's gonna get it to be a first down. You're gonna you're gonna get those things.

So without him in the lineup, if he doesn't play, that's the thing that I'm keeping my eye on in this football game. You know, when you look at that that game that you're talking about with the Niners, I mean he was he was catching the ball, he was running it. The thing about these games that you have you have to remember, I mean twelve catch I mean twelve carries sixty nine yards and five point seven yard average.

And I don't want to say throw out the forty one yard touchdown run because it was a very good run. He was like he got people off of him, and you know it wasn't just like out he used to speed, but he also was tough on it. But when you look at it, you're also think of throughout the course of the day, ten carries for twenty two yards. I mean, so you gotta get to that point as well. You're like ten carries for twenty two yards is very Zeke? Like,

Now did you keep doing it? You keep doing it hoping that your playmaker will bust one and he's got the ability to do that. So I never say throw it out. But you also remember, can you with this offense, let's say that this happens in this game, ten for twenty two for the first three quarters? Is that going to help you win this game? Like, like that's why Zeke gets knocked all the time. But like you know, three four or five tough yards moving some chains at times,

I think sometimes stats could be a little bit misleading. Yeah, can I ask you question? Then it's a great man it's a great point. There. Is it more and maybe the word is mirage, you know, maybe I don't know if if that's the right word. Is it more a mirage of Cowboys running game or Cowboys run defense? And I mean mirage like is it like you're kind of fooled that the run defense is okay and then the running game is okay? I mean between the two, if you had to say which one is more of one?

You can rely on Cowboys run defense or Cowboys running game. I think I think the run defense is not as bad as people think it is. I think that they give up some yards. I think that they showed up pretty good too when you get down to the goal line area and short yardage. I think that's pretty good. I count on them a little bit more than the running game. But I mean I'm not Yeah, I think the running games which one you hang your hat? Which

one you think you can hang your hat on. It's more on the running game, because everything we've seen from this team, and you can go back to preseason, has been this team is a good running team. They know how to run the ball. You know. Here's the thing about that though, there McCarthy just said it we're gonna run the ball. Yeah, that's his goal, that's the And then when you go to the defense, what they're trying to do. They're trying to get after the quarterback, so

they're gonna give up some runs, right. So yeah, I think it's a style a little bit, but I'm not as worried about the run defense as much, and I think they do a decent job. Let's also be clear, I think part of the issue with the run defense is every team comes into the game saying, we got to figure out creative ways to run the ball because the last thing we can do is in a situation that team can come and get our quarterback. Right, So you're gonna be facing teams that are gonna and I

haven't looked at numbers. I would. I'd be interested to know where the Cowboys ranked with regards to rush attempts against, Like, are they Are they way ahead of the next closest team. Are they at the top of the league. I don't know. I would be interested to know that, But I do know a lot of teams probably have come into the game with the thought, we gotta run the ball because we can't get in situations where quarterbacks and they don't

get and they don't blow anyone out. I mean that's the thing, like this team, this offense isn't stretching the lead where you're down seventeen points and you got to come back. I mean they're not They're not getting blown out. So uh, teams can continue to run the ball to

try to get back in the game. See that's why I was just thinking, because you know, we talk about their ability to run the ball, and you know, it's one of those things, Oh, I can run the ball and run ball, and then you're thinking like, Okay, well maybe there's sometimes they you know, maybe they can't maybe you know, you kind of and then we talk about

the run defense. No, the run defense is fine, and then you think Philadelphia just ran the ball tend straight times to end the game on it, right, you know, And that's the kind of things that you know, in my mind, I think that they're I think the run defense is better. I agree. I think the run defense is better than what people are thinking about I do. I think there's times when they just get blocked, you know, and that happens in every NFL game. You can watch like, well,

what happened to that play? Well, you're in got blocked your your linebacker was late getting over and the safety didn't get down fast enough. You can do that in every NFL game, but I don't think the Cowboys do it every single play. I don't think it's every single run against them is a bad fit. And the fact is, even if you look at the numbers, the numbers say they give up a lot of yards, as you were saying, Nick, the fact is they're not giving up a ton of points,

not getting a lot of points at all. So so it really is somewhat hollow because yes, teams can run on them, teams have been able to run on them, but it isn't resulting in points. So that's the thing I remember with you. I asked Rod Marinelli this one time and I said, you know, what do you worry about more run deep? Excuse me? Yards or points? He says, yards don't matter, it's the points. They can't win without the points. You know, that's the he goes, you can

run on me or throw on me all day. If I keep you out of the end zone, it doesn't matter. You're not going to win the game. Yeah, a lot, that's you know, it was his A lot of times those great Belichick defenses with Brady and then the Patriots, and they were one of the top offenses in the league.

They'd be last and in defense Kansas City for a while there too, because you're up, but you're up seventeen points, you're playing a pre event and point you know yards are coming, and you know you end up giving up three eighty and you blew them out. You know that happens. Yeah, and that's okay. I think most teams, most coaches will take that. All right, Let's get a couple other updates. Terrence Steele, what's up with him? Neck injury? Um, I

didn't see. I didn't honestly, I didn't listen to McCarthy today, so if he mentioned him, I know he's got neck injury. I don't think it was that serious though, Yeah, I didn't. I did not ask about him at all, and that thing. So I'll follow back up. I think I think the guys that they're Hooker and Noah Brown are the guys that are that's probably going next. What's what's up with the hooker and hamstring? For him not practicing two days in a row now, so the three headed monster might

be closer to who plays back. I just thought of the I'm just thought of something. Um, who can't play, Who's gonna be your center fielder? Yeah? I would think that's probably Donovan Wilson more than it would be cursed. Yeah, because yeah, Donovan Wilson would be bom could cold factor into this? Yeah? I think that to me this, if you had to play with a deep guy, you're gonna play more likely with Smith than you would because we've seen Smith in some in some games. I remember Jesus

was early in the year, might have been Cincinnati. They try, they try a vertical nine route on the outside and they and they got Brown squats. I mean he stops and you see Smith come flying to make up for the ground that the ball went down the sideline. So I would say that he would be the one that would probably played deep for you. Okay, and what are we hearing about Noah Brown. He's supposed to work with the trainers today, um, and at practice, and so he's

got a him hamstring for him. I have to look. I'm sorry this list was huge, but yeah, got me. I don't. Yeah, the foot is probably way better than a hamstring for a receiver in this case. But limited yesterday and then he'll he's gonna be limited today. So again, a lot of things you can figure out is also moves that they make if they're adding people or any add to the practice squad or anything like that. So um, and I said this yesterday about running back, about they

got to do something. This practice squad's got eighty seven players on it. Uh Quadra Ellison, Allison Quadre Allison. He's running back on the practice squad, could probably get elevated if Zeke doesn't play. Malik Davis moved up Allison as well, that that could happen with him. Is that more for special teams or is that just because you want to have to have a third back. I mean they bring

up David once rico' daddall was hurt. They brought up Davis every time they might be I mean, this will be Davis's third call up, so they got to be careful with that. If they want to keep him, they can't call him up anymore. So we'll see, we'll see what happens with him. But they do have another backup running back, Allison. And they got some receivers as well, Houston drumming maybe yeah. Yeah. So if they need for

Noah Brown, they could do that. The thing about that with with Noah Brown though, is he's like the stuff that he does on special teams. Yeah, he's the personal protector on the punt team, you know, and that's a that's a big responsibility to count them out, get everybody set. The last thing you want to do is give up a block punt. And you know who else has been that personal protector and not this year, but in previous years as Tony Pollard. Yeah, who could be starting this game?

So fossils, you know, got some that. That's the job of a special teams coordinator. You've you've got you know, moving parts all the time. Yeah, guys that you rely on. Sometimes we get called into a different role and you got a doubt. You're a triple A manager, is what you are. You get these guys ready to go, and then all of a sudden they're like, oh, we're gonna win a game. Like no, he's moving up to the show. You're like, dang, it's and I gotta figure another guy

Like that's that's what the special teams coordinators do. All right, Appreciate you guys, Jonas. We're gonna take our first break and we come back. We'll jump into to Chicago defense versus the Dallas offense. Then when we come back back Dallascowboys dot com Radio. Todd thought it would be secure to jog and the cheetah savant. Todd believed the big Cat repellent he bought online was reliable. And now Todd is trying to be faster in this cheetah that can

run eighty miles per hour. But the good news is Todd has AT and T five G. It is fast, reliable, and secure, and he learned the best thing to do is stop running and toss her the backpack with the beef stew at and T five G. Fast, reliable, secure, It's not complicated. Five G requires compatible plan and device five G may not be available in your area. See

att dot com slash fig for you for details. So what do you call a group of grown men and women with their faces painted silver and blue who get together every week to share a three hour long ritual of jumping, sinking, and toasting Miller lite and Tim Gallant hats while yelling how about them cowboys? You call it Miller Time in Dallas. Here's to the cowboys. Here's to the original light beer. It's Miller time celebrate Responsibly twenty twenty one, Miller Brewing Company for Orts, Texas. Want to

use what the pros use? How about the official men's skincare brand of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack Black. Right now you can get the Jack Black Starter, curated collection of Cowboys locker room favorites for just ten bucks with free shipping. The starter includes four Jack Clack skincare favorites plus a full sized and tense therapy whip bomb. Go to get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys and use the code word team JB. That's get Jack Black dot com slash Cowboys.

The Jack Black Starter ten bucks, free shipping. When you build, you start with the foundation, and homeownership is a foundation of a stable future. The Bank of America Community Homeownership Commitment has helped over thirty four thousand people lay the ground work so far, with up to ten thousand dollars to at your down payment or three percent of the purchase price, whichever is less. The satisfaction of owning your own place can become a reality. Visit Bank of America

dot com slash homeowner to learn more. What would you like the power to do. Bank of America an equal housing lender, credit and collateral. The stuffut to approval restrictions apply. This is not a commitment to lend. Back to the Break, get the ultimate fan experience for the It's been Cowboys Fan Joined Dallas Cowboys United presented by Global Life starting at just twenty dollars Joined Now get your fan pack, exclusive benefits and more. Visit Dallas Cowboys dot Com, Slash

United for Dallas details and joined today. Welcome back. It is what's wrong with you? You know, you get all the way to the end and then you mess it up like that. I don't know what that's like. That guy's not working, you know you were talking about probably because of me. Well, I mean I got what you just said. No, it works with you. You taught in the show of like five minutes ago. I appreciate you joining us after seventeen minutes. It wouldn't be the first time.

All right, we're gonna go ahead and jump into this. Uh we're in the wait, we're in the second segment of the Break. This segment brought to you by blockchain dot Com. Yeah, blockchain dot this show is off the rails today. All right, So let's let's jump in. Let's talk about the Cowboys offense versus Chicago defense. Brian, what's the best thing they do, worst thing they do? I'll tell you what. The thing I think that they do the best is they actually have guys that can get

after the football. And I mean they've they've they're trade away the one guy. But you know, he had been struggled a little bit though, Yeah he has been, but he's playing a lot of snaps for them. I mean, he's been kind of an up and down player. Robert Quinn, we'll see him on Christmas Eve. We'll see Robert Quinn then. But they do have Roquan Smith, who I think is a really, really good football player. And I know there was a lot of people talking about, well the Bears

trade him. Is a guy on the block and all that, and he doesn't play like a guy that wants to leave. He's playing as hard as he can. He's an undersized linebacker that runs everywhere, and so you know you're gonna have to deal with him and the secondary though, I think this is a little bit of the strength of their team though. This Chiquon Brisker is a safety that they got out of Penn State. It's kind of a ball hawk. You know, when you watch him play, he's

a good tackler. He's around the ball. If you watch the Monday night game the other night, he had a high point interception. You know, he's that type of guy that you really you have to respect for a young guy. He sees the field really really well and is not afraid to tackle if you're going to attack one of their cornerbacks. Jalen Johnson number thirty three is the guy I would go after. He's the second year player that

they had there. He plays a little bit more cautiously than I would like my corners to play, so you see him play off quite a bit, and then he's always driving on the ball, where on the other side, like Kyler Gordon, guys like that are just you know, they're driving on the ball, they're playing, they're playing aggressively, they're playing press coverage. They're not afraid of that. So you know, that's where I would keep an eye on

Johnson also too. If this Lamar Johnson number, Lamar Jackson number twenty three is on the field, he's a guy that's had some problems in coverage as well, so there's some guys that you can attack in this secondary. Uh you know. They their offensive line did a really good job of getting after New England. And then I went back and watched the Minnesota game, uh you know, and did another good job there. So it's the front is

not as good as what the Cowboys have played. But the linebacker, when you talk about Smith, Brisker, Gordon, They've got some guys. Eddie Jackson's another one, another safety on their team whose places as a free safety that's in on a lot of plays. So it's a it's a defense they'll give up a little bit, but but they do have some quality on the with some of the players. They have real quick nick. Before you jump in, I

wanted to throw out some stats. You remember yesterday I was talking about how far Yeah, listen to the defense. They are third in passing yards allow per game, giving up one hundred and eighty point three, so they don't give up much to gear. They are thirtieth in rush yards per game, giving up almost one hundred and fifty yards per game on the ground, so once again it

is a feast or famine. They can stop the run, I mean they can they can stop the pass but the running game, well, and you should be able to run against them again based on their numbers of what they've Yeah, they are. They are a very soft run defense. Sometimes you run the ball so well that you don't throw it and it makes to me may better. Yeah, you know, and so that I do. That's a that's not a it's not the case. Yes, the running part of it is, like I say, real quin Smith has

to make nearly every tackle. But the secondary I think is legitimate. Yeah, I really really do. I think Brisker's a really good young player. Gordon's a rookie. He's a really good young player. You know this. Eddie Jackson's a good player too. They've got legitimate cover guys. Yeah, they're only holding I mean they're they're not getting more than one hundred and eighty yards. And I know that that game situations can can dictate that, but that that still

is a really good number. I they're holding teams one hundred and eighty yards through the year. That's pretty significant through a seven game season. Absolutely. Yeah. The zeke's listening to the show right now because he's you know, relaxed, and he's like, wait, wait a second. Now, they're given up how many yards a game. He's like, Oh, I'm out there. Yeah, pooard. All those guys are in Anbar's mentions about me playing this week. I'm all about that.

And people are gonna come back and be like, see that's why Tony Polar should be running the ball all the time. And he's like, well, hold off. But that's also because the opponent your face in mental health and not look at mentions, do not look get the mensions. It's it will ruin you every single time. It will ruin you. Here's a question I have for you, Brian. The only top ten offense passing um top ten passing

offense that they've played so far as Minnesota. Right. Uh, Minnesota let him up for a three hundred and twelve passing yards. Minnesota can throw the ball, And my question becomes, yeah, have is this? Is? This? Is there number? Are there numbers? More a reflection of the fact that they really haven't played other than Minnesota a good passing offense. Do you think they're really that good? No? No, I think they're good.

But but Minnesota, that was one of the games I watched, and I was and I was interested about that because I think Minnesota can throw the ball. We all know Minnesota can throw the ball. As long as Kirk Cousins doesn't play in primetime, they're fine. Kurt Cousins will lose you a game in primetime, but you play at noon on a Sunday, he's gonna light you up for three hundred and whatever yards. But they've got legitimate receivers, they've

got the offense. I think Minnesota. We'll talk about Minnesota here down the road, but I think the thing, yeah, three thirty game, Yeah, well he just just oh no, yeah, if if if he's gonna play, if Kirk Cousins is gonna play a big time nationally televised game, you might as well just bet the house on whoever they're playing that day, Like Mark Cooper home in a way, very very similar, very similar, very similar kind of thing. But the thing you're onto something. I do feel like that

those guys. I watched these guys against against New England really closely, just because it was the last game, and you know, and Bailey's Appy came in, it had some success, and then all of a sudden after that it was just bumped. They shut that thing down. I mean, they got they were able to get a little pressure, they were able to cover a little better on the back end. They could have wilted in that game on Monday night

and they didn't. And I think that's the thing about it is, but if you talk to people around the league about this team, it's like, Okay, show me you could play this way again. Show me you could show me you could play offense this way again. Show me the quarterback and have success this way. You know. He says that usually it's usually not one of those things

that always travels that well. You know that you can be able to like start to put some of these things together, especially a team that struggled as much as they have on offense, they didn't score any points, but their defense. I think their defense is the best part of the you know. And Matt Eberflus, You gotta remember this about Eberflus. There was a game at a time when this team went Dak Prescott went to Indianapolis. It was one of the worst games that Dak Prescott had

ever played. I think was a twenty nine to nothing, twenty six to nothing game, and it just yea completely shut Dak Prescott and Matt Eberflus was the DC that day. So maybe he has some ideas of how you attack attack this, attack this play. That's what I'm saying that Smith, who was a similar linebacker that could run. I mean, he's got a couple of sacks, hint. And that game. You know, we mentioned that before about a game. Sometimes

games are just a stinkers. I mean, like they had I think they had won six in a row and then came back in one four to five. After that that was a ten out of eleven stretch and lost was a I think it was twenty two to nothing, and it was like we didn't think this was possible after with a mari the in the offense now, so you're right, Eberflus, you know, and he knew the personnel probably a little better than that he knows it now. But um still, he's got he's got some really good

defensive players. Maybe not enough, but he's got some good one Montgomery, I know, flipping to the other side. But but their offense I think helps will help their defense if they can run the ball. I mean Montgomery had a head about an eight yard run. That's about as good as an eight yard run as you can have it.

I don't know if you saw it. I'm sure you did, but like you know, if you remember it, you know he's just hit in the backfield and it was spinning and churning and then you're like where is he and then all of its oils I getting two. You know that that's what can't happen in this game because that's what will keep fields from being in long, third and

long situations. Because even at third and three, third and four, we saw it in third and fifteen he got looked like he was gonna get sacked and ended up running and getting the first out. He is a big time runner now, but he's not faster than Mike, as Micah Michael said that, Yeah, he's a not faster than me. Yeah,

check out some of these numbers. Also on their defense, they are tops in the league when it comes to a percentage of passes, percentage of drop backs that they get pressure on um and but here's the interesting thing. They're dead last in the league when it comes to percentage of plays that they actually blitz. So they're doing with their front four and they're only twentieth and sacks so they're not really getting home as might as you

want them to. But they're certainly getting pressure. My question is how much of that changes without Robert Quinn. You would think he's a big part. He only has one sack, but when it comes to pressures, he is a good pressure player. How much of that changes without him? No, I think it changes a lot because if you look at the players that they have, you know, and and and you go through it, they don't have that bell cow guy. They just don't have. I mean you know that.

You look at you know, Gibson and Blackston and Jones and Muhammad. I mean it's you know, it's it's kind of a group that's just you know, very You watch him and you just don't get fired up about you You're saying, oh, man, you had to deal with this guy, you know, Dominic Robinson and guys like that. I mean,

they've got some young players. The thing about it is Quinn's the one guy I worried about Quinn going over and Russian and seeing and having the opportunity over Tyler Smith because Quinn is so He's the kind of guy that gives Tyler Smith a little bit of the problem because of how slippery you know, a veteran guy, low shoulder, don't you know, if if Smith misses with his hands, now it turns into he's out of sorts. And Quinn was that kind of guy. Quinn makes you miss. And

that was the one thing I was worried about. I'm like going, I think steel might be okay, but if you flip it on the other side, I man, the thing about I was worried about Tyler Smith taking on Robert Quinn over there. I really really was. You know another thing too, when you're looking at the Zeke Polar thing on playing in the game, and we mentioned this before. You know, just because Zeke gets twelve carries in the

game doesn't mean that he had twelve collisions. I mean, he's a guy that picks up the blitz and he's out there a lot. And if Pollard has to do that more, that's more collisions for him. Is Malik Davis going to be out there? And if so, what's his awareness look like? So, you know, we say it all the time, it's not just about who's making the flashy runs you see on Sports Center. It's about all of the dirty works that comes with being the top running back.

And so it's a big challenge for Pollard if he's going to do that, and he's willing, but he's going to have to do it and do it with success. If not, then they might have to put Malik Davis out there. And then, you know, we've seen what happens when rookies. Maybe you think it's this way and then it's this way and your quarterbacks running for his life. So that's a big part of it too well. And Nick makes a great point because what happens is running

backs know how offensive lineman block. You do not want to get in the way of a tackle when he's trying to say, you're trying to chip a guy and all seen you hit the tackle in the back and now he's thrown off because he's dealing with the guy because you don't know where you need to fit. You know, those are the things that Posthered and Zeke understand because

they played games with these offensive linemen. Now, you know, there's been some times where Smith has got some work in the preseason with some of the guys and stuff, but not to the point where he's about to see on Sunday afternoon, right, yea, all right, we gotta like our final break will come back. Talk a little bit more about the Cowboys offense. We'll do that when we come back. Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. The season is finally here. For months, we've been gearing up to win.

Now it's time for the team that performs on any field. United Egg in Turf with John Dear zero turns for mowing, compact tractors for loading, many excavators for digging, Gator utility vehicles for hauling, implements for grading, hay tools for bailing. United Egg in Turf for winning the official agg and turf equipment supplier of the Dallas Cowboys. Visit United Egginturf dot com for more. Todd thought it would be secure

to jog and the cheetah Savanna. Todd belief the big cat repellent heapot online was reliable, and now Todd is trying to be faster than this cheetah that can run eighty miles per hour. But the good news is Todd has at and T five G. It is fast, reliable, and secure, and he learned the best thing to do is stop running and toss her the backpack with the beef stew at and T five G fast, reliable, secure, It's not complicated. Five G requires compatible plan and device

five G may not be available in your area. See att dot com slash five G for you for details. Sweet, did you get to work on time? Yeah? But I just realized it's Sunday. Little sweets his head on home, Doctor Pepper's on its way, So sweet, Maybe there's nothing better. I bet you've probably done something. You investionist egg in an NFT and I don't even know what that is. It's a nonfuntable token something. Doctor. When you build, you start with the foundation, and home ownership is a foundation

of a stable few. The Bank of America Community Homeownership Commitment has helped over thirty four thousand people lay the ground work so far. With up to ten thousand dollars towart your down payment or three percent of the purchase price, whichever is less. The satisfaction of owning your own place can become a reality. Visit Bank of America dot com slash homeowner to learn more. What would you like the power to do? Bank of America Ana Equal Housing lender

credit in collateralisope to approval restrictions apply. This is not a commitment to lend back to the break. Multi Grammy Award winning Global Superstar ed Sharon comes to AT and T Stadium on Saturday May six to kick off his twenty twenty three Mathematics tour. Sharon will be accompanied by special guests. Find out later. Get your tickets today at SeatGeek dot com, the official ticketing provider of AT ANDC Stadium.

Welcome Back. Final segment of the breaklof in Nest WBC Mortgage Studios at the Star Warpsenter by Miller Like the Only Beer of the Dallas Cowboys. Let's get to some questions. A few more questions on the Cowboys offense. Actually, this question comes from one of our listeners, Gee and Jersey. He says, what serious adjustments does you do you guys suggest the offense coordinator make in order to compete down

the road against future opponents. If you could look at this offense and say, is is one thing that the coordinator could do different or one area that they could improve in that would make the beast difference. I wish he could scheme his receivers open more on specific and I'm not just talking about third down plays or stuff like that. I wish there was some stuff on first downs where we see some a little bit more. If it's bunch or twins, whatever you want to do. But like,

you know, routes that like free guys up. I mean, the league sometimes will call penalties if you pass interfere and then a lot of times they'll just let it go. I'd like to see more opportunity where you have combination routes where all of a sudden, guys are just wide open. It's just because And you know the other the other day, gosh, who was it that ran a route? That was? It was? It was? It was the Rams game, I believe it was. But you know that you have a receiver, Oh, I know,

it's the Eagles game. You have receivers. It was Smith from the Eagles. They run they run a combination route where he picks all the way across the field and now you've got guys running wide open and you're like going, But he made it look like it was a route. He went straight up the field and now we have a collision with Anthony Brown and George Lewis and all those guys. But then you got a guy running Scott free and it's an easy throw and now it's a

big play. But that's to me. I just like to see them take these receivers so I know that have talent and free them up a little more. Don't don't don't just say okay, you have to run this, or you have to do things where you can maybe coordinate. Whether just get them wide open, not just you know, not just a little bit open. Get them wide open is what I was looking at. I'd like to see

him get Turpin involved. I think he's a dynamic player that can stretch the field both vertically but all so horizontally. I think you got fifty three yards to work with, and I think he's a guy that could run crossing royality. He can do reverses, fake reverses, whatever. He's just got that dynamic ability in the open field that has so few opportunities this year, and yet he's still if you go to YouTube, he's got a highlight package. He's got about eight nine plays that he's got this year, and

he doesn't get the ball very much. Why do you why do you think that is? Why do you think that at this point they haven't figured out how to get him more involved in the offense. There could be a couple of reasons. Can I can I throw a thought out there on this? Yeah, I think you have a wide receiver coach that wants to play with bigger guys. I mean I understand and that that don't please, don't kill the messenger. No, I know, it's just you know, I mean, it's the it's the situation where you get

a guy. It's like and they and they ran a preseason they ran a bunch of formation with him scattered it and he shot through the middle and he was separated and Cooper Rush got hit in the back and kind of threw the ball into the line and it was gonna be a touchdown. I mean, it was a designed throw that was going to be a touchdown. And you're thinking, wow, they saw that in the preseason. Why is that some Why can't we bring that one back for another day? And I believe it. I think you're

gonna see. I think you're gonna see what you want to see after the bye week. After the bye because what happened, Yeah, the self scout stuff. These coaches will sit down, you know, because of league rules, you can't practice. You gotta give players days off. They're gonna be gone. What a coach is gonna do. They're gonna sit around and they're gonna go, hey, let's self scout this thing.

What are the something that we haven't done in the first half of the season that we can break out now against the Packers, the Vikings, you know, these games against the AFC South or Philadelphia. What are these What can we do that's into you? Turpin is a great example of that. You know, hey, they haven't seen this,

we haven't shown that. You know. That's where I think after the bye you're gonna get your wish because these I think you could feel like you could beat Detroit, hopefully beat Chicago, and then you're gonna need some big plays in some of these other games against Minnesota and Green Bay. I think I hope that they actually do that, because the very few times that they have put Turpin out their own offense, they don't utilize in for anything.

It's just like literally a waste of an extra body out there on the field, because even for blocking situation, I mean, he can't be blocking anybody he's so small. So I'm with you on just kind of a combination of what you two said. One just finding new creative ways to do things and utilizing the different types of weapons and talent that you do have. And then how do you free up the receivers. I mean, last week we saw different times where they were double coverage, triple coverage.

The ball wasn't getting there, and that's a problem. And yesterday I was watching James Washington, and I know he's working his way back. He was out there practicing, and I watch him and I'm just like, even with him coming back, I don't think that's the answer for this whole wide receiver group. I'm not. And that's not a knock on him or anything, but he's just physically not the type of receiver I like, or prefer or want to have on the team. He's kind of more like

a bulky guy. I would like someone that's lengthier, longer, that feels lighter when they run. He just seems so heavy and and he's working hard, and we haven't necessarily seen him yet in the offense. So I hope he when he is ready to come back, he's able to bring something. But right now, it's just nothing unless it makes some kind of trade, which could happen because next week on Tuesday, next Tuesday on Tuesday, Okay, there's still time for some kind of trade. But I just see

it very unlikely. No, I think he gave a good scouting report about him. Also, maybe they're in a situation where bones Fossils like, listen, don't hurt my right, And by the way he is, he is providing something. Yeah, you know what I mean? How many times do you guys? Did you guys see the flips? Yeah? Yeah, the end of the game they go Landry shift and he backflips it. Zeke turns around because he knows it's about to happen.

But yeah, that's the thing about it is though, that you know, maybe that bones Fossil is looking at the situation we how many times Nick if we when I was with you guys at Dallas Cowboys dot Com that we had that discussion about, well, put put CD back there and return punts, put Dez back there and return punts.

Put you in You're like, Okay, the minute that one of those guys gets put Digs back there, let him return punts, and the minute the breaks his ankle, then you're gonna look at me and go, what were you thinking when you wanted to put your best player back there the return punts? And there might be a thing where bones Fossils like, listen, you hurt him. I've got nobody else that can do it is dynamically as that

kid does. Yeah, and he provides a spark, Like there are games that Philly game like they needed that in the moment. They got a big return from it. And they're gonna be games like that this year when you play good, good opponents where you might need that spark from specialty teams and if you don't have him, you don't have it. That Detroit punter hammered the ball and

he brought it back fifty four yards. He took a punt that was hammered and brought it back to where it was like, ha, no way, not today, Foxes, You're not putting that ball sixty yards because I'm gonna bring it back fifty four you know. And he's so upset by it too, like yeah, he's like he's he's I mean, he's one thing away from, you know, one guy away from doing it. But you keep bringing the ball back.

You know, there's people in the league, like, you know, there's pro guys these teams now they're going, what do we not like about this kid? Why? Why or why do they have him? And we're sitting here returning the ball for three yards a punt You know why. And you know that's a that's a good question there, sir. And I probably won't have a job tomorrow because I

can't get a guy like that, you know. I mean, I give the Scotting Department credit for they they looked at the u USFL and they said, he's the one guy we like the best. Yeah, and you know, we think we can we can get him. He's in Texas Kid for Worth Kid, you know, and I played at TCU, and we think we can get him in. But here's another thing about it. A lot of I'd wears jersey if I could, Yeah, I would, you'd be a player. I'd wear his jersey. I beture there's a few out there.

You can just rip the back off of a Romo and take the name right off. Yeah, yeah, No. I think a lot of times when you get a guy like that, one of the questions could be he's not ready mentally to do all of the things on an offense. However, in this case, he came into camp midway through camp or early into camp, and he was doing things on offense very early. Seven on seven right, he got himself involved in the offense. I think he could definitely do it.

I think there's plays for him out there. Maybe they're saving it for something. Yeah, well that's all you can hope for. I guess at this point they're gonna do it at some point. Go ahead, Amber, Yeah, I mean yeah maybe, but I think you're gonna get your wish at some point. You gotta start. Yeah, I think I think you're gonna get your wish after after the bottom. Yeah, that's when they sit there, they sit down. Yeah, Lucky Whitehead helped you. I told you about that player jet sweep.

He ran and got your win at Green Bay. All right, appreciate you, guys. Jonnis. We'll be back tomorrow. We'll wrap this thing up. We'll tell you what's going to happen this weekend. We'll give our predictions for Nick. Even Brian brought us Amber Garcia. I'm Derek Eagleton. This has been The Break live on Dallas Cowboys dot Com Radio. This has been a production of Dallas Cowboys dot Com and the Dallas Cowboys Football Club.